.320+ BA in Last Season
Posted by Raphy on January 25, 2009
It is being reported that Sean Casey will be retiring after hitting .322 for the Red Sox. Here are all the players who have batted over .320 with at least 200 PA in their final seasons. It is interesting to note, that like Casey, 9 out of the previous 11 were under 35.
Cnt Player **BA** PA Year Age Tm Lg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB IBB SO HBP SH SF GDP SB CS OBP SLG OPS Positions +----+-----------------+---------+---+----+---+---+--+---+---+---+---+--+--+--+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+--+-----+-----+-----+---------+ 1 Joe Jackson .382 649 1920 30 CHW AL 146 570 105 218 42 20 12 121 56 0 14 7 16 0 0 9 12 .444 .589 1.033 *7 2 Happy Felsch .338 613 1920 28 CHW AL 142 556 88 188 40 15 14 115 37 0 25 4 16 0 0 8 13 .384 .540 .924 *8 3 Buck Weaver .331 690 1920 29 CHW AL 151 629 102 208 34 8 2 75 28 0 23 6 27 0 0 19 17 .365 .420 .785 *56 4 Monk Sherlock .324 335 1930 25 PHI NL 92 299 51 97 18 2 0 38 27 0 28 0 9 0 0 0 0 .380 .398 .778 *3/48 5 Zack Wheat .324 276 1927 39 PHA AL 88 247 34 80 12 1 1 38 18 0 5 4 7 0 0 2 3 .379 .393 .772 *7/98 6 Walt McCredie .324 242 1903 26 BRO NL 56 213 40 69 5 0 0 20 24 0 0 2 3 0 0 10 0 .397 .347 .744 *9 7 Ty Cobb .323 393 1928 41 PHA AL 95 353 54 114 27 4 1 40 34 0 16 4 2 0 0 5 8 .389 .431 .820 *9 8 Chicken Hawks .322 366 1925 29 PHI NL 105 320 52 103 15 5 5 45 32 0 33 2 12 0 0 3 6 .387 .447 .834 *3 9 John Sullivan .322 274 1921 31 TOT NL 81 245 28 79 14 4 4 41 19 0 26 1 9 0 0 3 5 .374 .461 .835 10 Bill Keister .320 429 1903 31 PHI NL 100 400 53 128 27 7 3 63 14 0 0 6 9 0 0 11 0 .352 .445 .797 *9 11 Sam Dungan .320 610 1901 34 WSH AL 138 559 70 179 26 12 1 73 40 0 0 2 9 0 0 9 0 .368 .415 .783 *93/7
January 25th, 2009 at 2:55 am
I had no idea Casey played so much or so effectively last season.
Hmm, the White Sox sure took a hit when all those guys decided to retire...
January 25th, 2009 at 12:57 pm
Sean Casey hit 54 points above the league average. The only people on this list to hit for more points above the league average are McCredie, Felsch, and the immortal Joe Jackson (99 points).
Also of note is all but Dungan and McCredie played their season in Chicago or Philadelphia. Perhaps there was something in the air in those years.
And since Casey played in Fenway, we can say that every one played in a ballpark built during the dead-ball era.
Finally, as you pointed out, Casey and 9 of the 11 did this before the age of 35. The remaining two are the only Hall of Famers on the list.
January 25th, 2009 at 2:09 pm
Just imagine the egg on the face of MLB if the Black Sox had been allowed to play those last games and won the pennant. It is largely forgotten today that those guys were pulled while the team was in arm's length of the pennant. I believe it was 1/2 game back with three to play.
Technically, Mike Donlin didn't hit .320 in any of his last three seasons, but if you want to see a guy who walked away on top of his game more than once, look at his numbers. He just might be the biggest "what if" of all time. Had this guy really brought his A game and not been involved in crime and vaudeville, who knows? His four full seasons, 1901, 1903, 1905 and 1908, are incredible.